COCHRAN - Piedmont Academy used a tight 2-3 zone to keep the Bulloch Academy inside scoring game at bay and Lady Cougar point guard Carrie Tucker hit 10-of-13 foul shots to lead Piedmont to a 39-29 victory in the opening girls' round of the GISA Class AA state basketball tournament Wednesday at Middle Georgia College.

MICHIGAN CITY, Ind. (AP) - More than two dozen cars and trucks piled up in a chain-reaction wreck Wednesday on a slippery section of Interstate 94 in northern Indiana, closing a six-mile stretch of the highway's westbound lanes, police said.

ATLANTA - Northwest Airlines Corp. pilots have integration issues to sort out. Not just the ones with their counterparts at Delta Air Lines Inc. that threaten to scuttle talks to combine the two carriers. The ones with Republic Airlines. From 1986.

ATLANTA - In the first report of its kind, U.S. health officials said the nation's states and cities made a strong effort to prepare for a flu pandemic, bioterrorism or other emergency health crises, but big challenges remain.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Space shuttle Atlantis and its crew returned to Earth on Wednesday, wrapping up a 5 million-mile journey highlighted by the successful delivery of a new European lab to the international space station.

ACCRA, Ghana - In a country teeming with resources the world covets, President Bush sought Wednesday to soothe African fears about American interests on the continent. He said the U.S. isn't aiming to make Africa into a base for greater military power or a proxy battleground with China.

RAMALLAH, West Bank - The Palestinians should follow Kosovo's example and unilaterally declare independence if peace talks with Israel fail, a senior Palestinian official said Wednesday, but the Palestinian president said the proposal was premature.

BAGHDAD - Anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr may let a six-month cease-fire expire as soon as Saturday, a move that could send his Shiite militia fighters back to the streets and jeopardize security gains that have led to a sharp decline in violence.

CAIRO, Egypt - A fresh Sudanese offensive by government soldiers and Arab militiamen against Darfur rebels has trapped thousands of refugees along the Chadian border, the rebels and humanitarian workers said Wednesday.